


Maybe You'll Get What You Want This Time Around

by pretendmulling (tenderlumpling)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Child Abuse, Childbirth, Domestic Violence, F/M, Rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-02
Updated: 2013-05-02
Packaged: 2017-12-10 04:24:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/781746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tenderlumpling/pseuds/pretendmulling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tobias Snape finds out his wife is a witch. Things, to put it lightly, do NOT go well afterward.</p>
<p>Written for dysfuncentine at LiveJournal and slightly expanded. Title is from Garbage's song "The Trick is to Keep Breathing"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe You'll Get What You Want This Time Around

“What the hell is this?”

Eileen Snape turned away from the sink full of dirty dishes to see her husband, Toby, holding up a long, thin piece of wood. A sudden chill came over her. That long, thin piece of wood was her wand. Toby had no idea he’d married a witch, or that their four-month-old son, Severus, was almost guaranteed to be a wizard. But now, she’d have to tell him.

“ _Well?_ ” Toby tapped his foot impatiently.

“It’s my wand,” Eileen said almost inaudibly.

“Louder.”

“It’s my wand,” Eileen repeated, more loudly this time and voice shaking.

Toby stared at her for a moment, then said, “Stop talking rubbish. What is this thing?”

“I’m a witch,” she said, now trembling from head to toe.

Toby was silent for a moment. Upstairs, Severus began to cry. “I’d better go see what he needs,” Eileen mumbled, edging toward the door.

“Hold up one bleeding moment, woman,” Toby said, grabbing her shoulder roughly. “What do you mean, you’re a witch? I know you ain’t exactly bright, but believing in fairy tales? Even that’s beneath you.”

Eileen swallowed hard, looking toward the door. Severus was crying more insistently now, but she knew Toby wouldn’t let her go until she showed him what she was saying. “Give it to me,” she said, holding out her hand for her wand. Smirking, he handed it over. Still trembling, Eileen flicked her wand at the dishes in the sink, which began washing themselves.

Toby stared, jaw agape, for a moment. Then he closed his mouth and shook his head. “When were you going to let me in on this?”

“I wasn’t.”

“Keeping secrets from me, now?” Toby advanced on her. “What else can you do with that thing? Bring us some money?”

Eileen shook her head. “It’s not possible.”

“What do you mean, it’s not possible?”

“Money is an exception to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration. I can’t conjure money.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means I can’t just turn anything into money.”

“So it’s useless.”

“No! No, I can do plenty of things with it, I just can’t make money-” She was cut off as Toby pushed her roughly against the counter and tried to grab her wand from her. “Stop!”

“If you’re going to lie to me-”

“I’m not lying! Toby, when have I ever lied to you?”

At this, he pulled his hand back and smacked her soundly across the face. She cradled her cheek in one hand, blinking furiously.

“I don’t know what’s gotten in that thick skull of yours,” Toby said, leaning in until his face was less than an inch from hers. “But you’d best get it out, and quick, understand? I don’t have time for a crazy liar bitch.” When Eileen didn’t respond, he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. “I said, do you understand?”

“Yes,” she whispered, nodding.

“Good.” He turned away from the counter and stormed out of the kitchen. A few minutes later, the front door slammed as he left for the mill.

Eileen leaned against the counter for a moment, until Severus’s cries brought her back to the present. She hurried upstairs and picked him up, opening her shirt when she realized he was hungry. As he nursed, she tried to process what had just happened.

She still couldn’t believe Toby had hit her. He wasn’t a gentle man, she knew that, but he’d never been violent before. She just couldn’t imagine what had brought such a drastic change in him. True, she’d been busy taking care of the baby, but he was still so little and helpless; surely Toby could understand Severus needed her more right now?

Or maybe it was Severus himself. Eileen thought she might be imagining it, but Severus didn’t seem to like Toby as much as he liked her. “You could make some effort, you know,” she said to Severus, whose dark eyes flicked up at her as he sucked on her breast. “He’s your father.”

_Listen to yourself,_ she thought. _Scolding the baby for something he doesn’t know he’s doing!_ He seemed to know what she was saying, though; in a moment he had stopped sucking and pushed himself away from her, and no amount of coaxing could get him to finish eating. Finally, Eileen put Severus back in his crib and covered him with a blanket. If he wasn’t going to eat, she thought as she buttoned her shirt, she wasn’t going to make him.

Eileen spent the rest of the day making sure the house was spotless, and for dinner she made Toby’s favorite Lancashire hotpot. She convinced herself that Toby had just been in shock from her revelation; after all, that was quite a piece of news to digest. And she could do better, too, she thought; Severus wasn’t really so little or helpless, and just because he was here didn’t mean Toby didn’t need her anymore… Satisfied that he would apologize and never raise a hand to her again, Eileen began setting the table.

Toby didn’t come home in time for dinner. Disappointed but still hopeful, Eileen cleaned up the dinner dishes and began tending to Severus. She wanted him to sleep the night through; somehow, she was sure that if Toby wasn’t awakened in the middle of the night by the baby crying, he’d be in a better mood.

XXX

It was three o’clock in the morning when Eileen heard the bedroom door open. Toby walked in, his footfalls heavier than normal, and he stopped at the side of the bed. A moment later she heard the clank of his belt buckle hitting the floor. “Roll over,” he slurred, tapping her roughly on the shoulder.

“Not tonight, dear,” Eileen mumbled sleepily.

“I said _roll over_ ,” Toby snapped, pulling the blanket off her and grabbing her shoulder, forcing her onto her back. From this new angle, Eileen saw that Toby was already hard.

“No,” she said. “Please, Toby, not tonight…”

“Shut up,” he snarled, positioning himself between her legs.

“But-”

For the second time that day, Toby smacked Eileen across the face. “You’re my wife,” he said. “I can fuck you any time I want. Shut up and take it.”

Eileen bit her lip and blinked as Toby plunged into her. “Toby, please,” she said, pushing against his shoulders. “Stop. You’re hurting me, please-”

She stopped talking as he clamped a hand around her throat. “For the last time. _Shut. Up._ ”

Eileen lay silent as Toby roughly pumped in and out of her, turning her head to hide the tears rolling down her face.

“Think I know why you make up them fairy tales,” Toby said in a low, soothing voice a few minutes later, pausing just for a bit. “I ain’t giving you enough sex. Makin’ up stupid shit to believe when I’m gone… Could be worse; least I know you’re too ugly to have another man.” When Eileen didn’t respond, he went on, his voice lower and more soothing. “There was a girl at the pub tonight. Looked like one o’ them pin-ups you see at the strip joints. Perfect tits and arse, an’ a face like it were carved by God himself. Nearly went home with her. Good thing for you, I remembered I’m a married man.”

Eileen turned her head to face Toby once more. “Why are you doing this?” She whispered.

In response, he slammed back into her, eliciting a yelp of pain. “Be quiet,” he snapped.

Neither of them said anything else until (not nearly quickly enough for Eileen) Toby stopped moving, groaning as he emptied his seed inside her. He rolled off her and was asleep in a moment. Eileen, on the other hand, lay on her side of the bed, as far from him as she could get, trembling and crying for the rest of the night.

Two months later, Eileen found out she was pregnant.

XXX

February 14th, 1961

Eileen gripped the edge of the mattress. It was only a matter of hours, but she hoped –no, _would prefer_ ; the last nine months had relieved her of her ability to hope- that the baby would come before Toby came home.  
When she had told him that she was in the family way again, he had responded by trying to punch her in the stomach. Eileen would never admit this as long as she lived, but as the months wore on she began to wish she’d let him hit her. First, Toby’s hours at the mill had been cut. Then he’d been fired for showing up drunk for one of his shifts. Then he’d been both unwilling and unable to find another job, despite the fact that Severus was growing fast and needed new clothes and a proper bed. Eileen had been forced to swallow her pride and accept government assistance. Even thinking about standing in line at the dole office made her face burn with shame; for the first time, she was glad the Prince family had disowned her, if only so she could avoid the sneers and tutting and “we told you so”.

She thought about last January, when the boy was born. Then, Toby had been so proud that he was going to be a father. He had hired the best midwife he could afford; and she really had been the best, Eileen thought as she breathed out. She had guided Eileen through her four-hour labor with the skill and patience that only came from years of delivering babies. When Toby heard those three magical words, “it’s a boy”, Eileen had thought he might burst with pride. He’d bragged to all of his friends and drinking buddies and co-workers at the mill about his newborn son and acted as though each of Severus’s minor accomplishments had been a miracle. Although, Eileen noted, he’d never told anybody that his son’s name was Severus; he’d told them it was Stephen.

This time, Toby had ignored her. There was no money for a midwife, no money for any new baby clothes or another crib, and no money for Eileen to take Severus and leave. She couldn’t find any work in the Muggle world, she was sure of that; she had no skills or knowledge to help her out in that market. The magical world wouldn’t be any more open to hiring a single mother with two babies, either.

She sighed as she looked around the small, dingy bedroom. She was stuck. Stuck in this house with a husband who was prone to violent outbursts, a baby who was clearly magical (she’d done her best to hide Severus’s bursts of magic from Toby, but she didn’t know how much longer it would be before she wasn’t there to stop him from seeing it), and another baby who would be entirely dependent on her for at least six months.

From across the hall, Eileen heard Severus start crying again. He had been pitching a fit for nearly three hours, upset that his mother wasn’t giving him the attention he wanted. Wincing, Eileen stood and made her way, slowly, down to the kitchen. Once there, she pulled out a mild Muggle cough syrup and added a few drops to the bottle she was preparing for Severus. She couldn’t forgive herself for doing it, but she needed to concentrate for a bit. _Besides,_ she told herself, _it’s not nearly enough to do anything more than make him sleepy._ She climbed back up the stairs, her self-loathing increasing with each step.

“Here you are, dear,” she said wearily, handing the bottle to Severus. He held out his arms for her to pick him up. “No, Severus, I’m not going to pick you up. Stand like a big boy. And take this,” she added, shaking the bottle a little bit. Finally Severus took the bottle and began sucking on it, looking up at Eileen with deep resentment on his face. Ten minutes later, after Severus had fallen asleep and Eileen had covered him with a blanket, she returned to her and Toby’s room to wait.

It was nearly dark before she finally felt the urge to push. Biting down on one of Toby’s belts, she braced herself against the bed and bore down. This baby was more stubborn than Severus had been; it was another hour before she felt the familiar burning sensation as the head made its slow, difficult way out. Inch by agonizing inch, the rest of the baby followed, until Eileen could reach down and gently pull it out. She held the wet, squirming, howling baby against her chest, waiting for her legs to stop shaking enough for her to stand and crawl into the bed.

Once there, she examined the baby. It seemed perfectly healthy; it was crying well and had a head of jet-black hair. And it was a girl. Eileen’s heart sank. Toby was already furious about having a second child; how would he react when he found out it was a girl? A girl needed her own room; she couldn’t share one with her brother. At the very least, she needed her own crib-

“What is it?” Toby stood in the doorway, his face half-hidden in shadow, though the visible half was wearing a disgusted expression. She could tell he was angry about not coming home to a hot meal on the table, and no excuse, not even giving birth to his child, would be accepted.

“Girl,” Eileen said weakly.

Toby’s face twitched. “Hmph. Least you did that right. Oldest should always be a boy. Speaking of which, why’s ours still asleep?”

“I don’t know,” Eileen lied, pulling a part of the blanket around her daughter.

Toby took another look at the baby. “Might be a pretty one when she gets older,” he said. “I wouldn’t count on it, though. Hope she ain’t a freak like you, if nothing else.” He turned and headed downstairs; a moment later the front door shut hard.

Eileen looked back at the baby girl, who was snuggling against her breast and moving her mouth experimentally. She needed a name, of course… But what? Severus had been an old family name in the Prince household; the fact that it was also a saint’s name had given it slightly better standing with Toby and his Catholic upbringing. Eileen cast her tired mind around for a girl’s name, and it landed on… “Rowen.” She stroked the girl’s face. “Like Rowena Ravenclaw. Maybe you’ll be Sorted there, who knows.”


End file.
